02847: Remote Uncle


The unique combination of my close relationship with my sister and the fact that we're running a business together means that I get a lot of interaction time with their family even if mostly on a remote basis. Truly, we live in amazing times such that we can spend hours on video calls throughout the day without worrying about long distance fees or even metered internet costs. And this also means that I remain fairly updated as to the day-to-day developments of my nephew.

If any of you had tried to tell me last year that I was going to be this invested in a baby's schedule for naps and feeding, I would have said you're crazy. But that's exactly what has happened thus amid various discussions on this or that work-related matter, we also switch topics to talk about how long his first nap had been versus how soon until his next planned feeding. I won't claim that this is even remotely close to what it must feel like to be a parent, but it is certainly interesting to somewhat share in the experience, even if largely vicariously via video conference call.

But I'm proud to admit that our limited times of interaction throughout the day are big highlights to look forward to. He's growing up so quickly and we're keeping these conversations going to help sort of update everyone over here with respect to his development. From barely being able to hold up his head, he's now more than happy to entertain himself while on his playmat while magically moving around without actually figuring out the mechanics of crawling just yet. We've all shared in digitally documented moments of those first experiments with making him try solid food and all the funny faces he makes when he doesn't like what he's experiencing. And so many other moments.

I know I'm lucky. Technology is an amazing thing and it's experiences like this that align with the original vision for the internet as a means to bring people around the world closer together. I get to justify that being on a video call with a baby on the other side is still a work-related task somehow and it's one of the best perks of my job, quite frankly.

I miss him, but I know I'll see him again soon whether on a video call tomorrow or in a few weeks when the family flies over. Good stuff.

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